![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I almost never post about Ye Day Jobbe, but this is different.
My workplace is laid out like this: The elevators empty into a long hallway. All along this are large, heavy locked doors, and behind these are the Super-Sekrit Guv'mint Employee Workspaces.
To get to my SSGEW, I do the Door Dance: Swipe ID. Maneuver scooter to proper angle. Fling door open. Back scooter against door to hold it open. Adjust angle to be able to go through door. (and hope the door doesn't slip shut, because then it's Return To Start. There's one door I can't open at all, because of the angle.
Weeks ago, someone asked me to file a reasonable accommodation request stating that I needed an electric door opener. Well, I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about truth telling, and I hate being made out to look more helpless than I am, so I told her that I don't NEED one, although I'd be glad to say that one would make life easier for a lot of people in the office. She wasn't entirely happy, and my boss explained a bit later that the union had asked for a door opener on the Unopenable Door at someone else's request and been told "The ADA only requires that we provide access from the outside of the building." Well, that hall may have a roof over it, but t'aint where the work gets done.
So yesterday a lady in charge of investigating ADA compliance calls me. She came down and watched me do the Door Dance, and I said "Imagine trying to do this on crutches or from a manual chair- something where you don't have an electric motor to augment your own strength or agility."
She agreed that a door opener was entirely reasonable, and I agreed to sign the accommodation request provided that it was clear that I was claiming only what I'd explained. She said Of course, so I signed- and I asked why she hadn't asked the original requestors to do this.
And she said "They were afraid to speak up."
NO ONE should be made to feel threatened for asking for the means to do their jobs. We weren't asking for less work or responsibility, just an open door.
My workplace is laid out like this: The elevators empty into a long hallway. All along this are large, heavy locked doors, and behind these are the Super-Sekrit Guv'mint Employee Workspaces.
To get to my SSGEW, I do the Door Dance: Swipe ID. Maneuver scooter to proper angle. Fling door open. Back scooter against door to hold it open. Adjust angle to be able to go through door. (and hope the door doesn't slip shut, because then it's Return To Start. There's one door I can't open at all, because of the angle.
Weeks ago, someone asked me to file a reasonable accommodation request stating that I needed an electric door opener. Well, I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about truth telling, and I hate being made out to look more helpless than I am, so I told her that I don't NEED one, although I'd be glad to say that one would make life easier for a lot of people in the office. She wasn't entirely happy, and my boss explained a bit later that the union had asked for a door opener on the Unopenable Door at someone else's request and been told "The ADA only requires that we provide access from the outside of the building." Well, that hall may have a roof over it, but t'aint where the work gets done.
So yesterday a lady in charge of investigating ADA compliance calls me. She came down and watched me do the Door Dance, and I said "Imagine trying to do this on crutches or from a manual chair- something where you don't have an electric motor to augment your own strength or agility."
She agreed that a door opener was entirely reasonable, and I agreed to sign the accommodation request provided that it was clear that I was claiming only what I'd explained. She said Of course, so I signed- and I asked why she hadn't asked the original requestors to do this.
And she said "They were afraid to speak up."
NO ONE should be made to feel threatened for asking for the means to do their jobs. We weren't asking for less work or responsibility, just an open door.
